Feedback & Reports

Another stunning stretch - less accessible swims than the other stretches we fished but there are certainly enough to go at. Again struggled on a low clear river but persevered and managed to get three nice Chub in the end from the faster water. Great weekend - must have seen easily 50 Salmon leap out of the water over the three days. Despite what some reports say if you follow the maps and the instructions you can't go wrong. Thank you Wye Usk Foundation

3 Chub

Nice to be back at Holme Lacy 3 after an absence of 8 yrs, could not believe how much it has changed. Young trees and bushes growing, with well maintained pathways and pegs. This beat is a real credit to Colin Richardson who maintains and manages it for the land owner. Great to speak to him again, what a true gentleman and always willing to give good advice on pegs and where to locate fish. Lets hope the w&u keep this beat on their passport for many years to come.
So to the fishing itself - weather was sunny and cloudy on the 1st day and overcast with rain showers on the 2nd. 1st day saw me start at the bottom croys trotting pellets catching a few chub, I then moved to the first land slip changing to a speci waggler trotting the far bank this picked up a lot of fish bites came fast and furious. 2nd day I fished the bottom of the beat and started wading right down to the fast water with a feeder. No luck. As I came back I noticed a deep gulley on the far side. Put in a kilo of ground bait, hemp and pellets. Went back to rig up and avon float, waded out and started feeding pellets. Picked up a few chub just off bottom then noticed chub coming right up in the water to take on the drop. I shallowed up to 18" and started to catch what would turn out to be a massive haul of chub all ranging from 3lb to 5lb+. At one point I was catching 4 to 5 fish in 20 minutes. This then tailed off and the fish became spooked by the float going in. I stripped everything off but a no.4 shot and basically free lined a 8mm pellet down the run. The chub could not cope with this, the presentation must have been as good as it gets. 5 barbel also fell to the free line and at 7 o'clock with my hooklink broken and a long drive looming I desided to call it a day. The fish were stil feeding and I stood and thought to myself how lucky I have been to catch such a large amount of quality fish. I will probably never have such good fortune ever again. The angling gods must have smiled on me. Thank you to the wye and usk for letting me fish in such beautiful surroundings. I feel privileged.

7 Barbel, 100 Chub

Tough days fishing, the water was very low. We were catching a few fish until some guys set up up on the opposite bank, then the bites dried right up for the rest of the day!! I've been to this beat many times and have never had anyone fishing opposite. I thought we had this stretch all to our selves as we're paying a lot for the day ticket! Will check with Don to see if they were supposed to be fishing there but it has made me think twice about booking this stretch again, especially if people can fish the opposite bank!
WUF Note: On single bank beats such as Wyebank there is always a chance that people will be fishing opposite you. If this is of concern, please check the website or Passport booklet before booking - there are plenty of double bank beats to choose from.

7 Barbel, 5 Chub

5 Barbel, 3 Chub

Lovely beat and very scenic. Arrived about midday and struggled in hot bright conditions. Managed 1 chub and 1 barbel before going for lunch at the Green Man pub. 6 more barbel and 3 chub after refreshments. Will explore more of the beat next time, down stream of the hill looks very nice.

7 Barbel, 4 Chub

1 x rainbow on spinner, 13inches. Ledgered worm most of the day for nowt.

1 Trout

Fished four different swims including two of the recently opened ones. Caught in all of them but found the barbel in the deeper water - maybe due to the bright conditions. All fish to double sweetcorn straight on a size 12, fish meal and hemp in the feeder.
Biggest barbel was 8.15 and biggest chub 3.15. With a 2 hr drive before and after only fished 6 till 5 so would of expected a few more before dusk if I had stayed on.

4 Barbel, 7 Chub

River low and clear but well worth the 2 hours in the late afternoon on the top of this beat. Usual high average size of fish for this tiny stream, probably due to them snacking on the abundant Native Crayfish - please remember to check, clean and dry your kit when coming in from different beats. Fish of 12", 13", 10" and 8" and others quite possibly bigger lost. Many fish visible and loads spooked from a distance that reminds you that wild trout, in low water really do have eyes in the back of their head.
Had a walk up the bottom of Upper Escley - there are some good fish in there too - need to get it back on! Can highly recommend the Bridge Inn, at the top of the Beat for camping, food and beer.

4 Trout

Managed a good couple of hours on the Taf Fawr today. Stream is very low and clear so fished a single dry fly/klinkhammer in the pocket water and fast/oxygenated runs and managed to catch 2 dozen small fish up to 3/4lb.

24 Trout

2 x trout 7-8 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. Cloudy and humid weather, one or two showers. A tough session without much sign of life on the water (the two fish taken came from the same pool). Very much overgrown. We are definitely going to have to do some major pruning on this one come winter.

2 Trout